Rogers has partnered with Ericsson to bring Canadians 5G wireless service, promising greater speeds and connectivity.
The next level of wireless is being tested in Toronto and Ottawa, with other Canadian cities scheduled to join the testing phase later this year.
“We are at the advent of the fifth generation of wireless networks. Similar to how 4G powered the proliferation of the smartphone and on-demand economy, 5G will make the mass communication of IoT a reality, changing how we live and work,” said Jorge Fernandes, chief technology officer, Rogers Communications.
With ultra-low latency, the lag between sending a request and the network responding will theoretically drop to one millisecond with 5G, 400 times faster than the blink of an eye.
The announcement Monday was made at Rogers Centre, where companies demonstrated multiple live 5G examples as a part of Rogers 5G testing program. Participants wore virtual reality (VR) glasses to toss a baseball back and forth, virtually shopped in a retail store, and controlled robots with real-time responsiveness.
Ericsson says it expects one billion 5G subscriptions worldwide by the end of 2023.
